Metal Gear Rising: Rebirth
by Lady Creepypasta
Summary: After the fall of Desperado, a new organization known as Phoenix forms. Their goal is to create an army of enhanced cyborgs, though their full motives are still unknown. After their main cyborg unit attacks an isolated village in Oregon, Raiden discovers one survivor who calls herself "Blade". He is tasked with protecting her, though he learns that he cannot always save the weak...
1. Chapter 1: Phoenix

_**Metal Gear Rising: Rebirth**_

 **~Chapter 1: Phoenix~**

Cyborgs. Such efficient weapons. They are just the same as regular soldiers, only with a lot more capabilities. They can replace their limbs. They don't feel pain like humans do. Lastly, cyborgs don't need as much training as humans. They just need to be programmed. They only need VR training sessions. Cyborgs are the perfect weapon for war. However, not a lot of cyborg militants were as enhanced as some cyborgs. Cyborgs such as Raiden.

Raiden was capable of wiping out armies of some cyborgs. He had defeated Metal Gears just using his sword and two hands. Barely any cyborgs stood a chance against Raiden. Even if they did prove themselves to be a challenge, Raiden would ultimately win in the end.

Desperado was an organization which had ultimately been stopped by Raiden not long ago. This organization was bent on benefiting from war, attempting to use the brains of orphaned children to create child soldiers. Thankfully Raiden did not allow the full creation of these vicious child soldiers, mainly due to the fact that he did not want anyone to go through what he had gone through when he was young.

But a new organization had formed after the fall of Desperado. They wanted to create new cyborgs, ones which were just as enhanced as Raiden, if not more enhanced. They planned on performing various experiments on unsuspecting victims to create the perfect cyborg soldier.

This organization was Phoenix.

...

There was a small and peaceful village in Oregon, USA. Not many people lived there, making the place rather quiet. However, despite this village being difficult to notice, it was still noticed by Phoenix. As the name of the organization implies, the village was left in flames. Those sent in to attack were Phoenix's personal unit of cyborgs.

...

"They call themselves the Swords of the Firebird," Kevin informed Raiden as Raiden rode along on his motorcycle.

"I wonder why," Raiden huffed rhetorically. "So these cyborgs attacked a village during the night?"

"Yeah," replied Kevin.

"Do you think that they were after more possible test subjects?" Raiden asked.

"Possibly," Kevin answered.

"But why would they attack a small village in Oregon?" Raiden questioned.

"My guess is that they don't want media attention... yet," Kevin assumed. "Not to mention that Oregon has had it's fair share in bushfires."

"Huh..." Raiden could only respond before noticing how close he was to the given location. "I'm almost at the village's ruins."

"Look for any traces of the Swords of the Firebird," Kevin instructed. "They may come in handy and could be sent for analysis."

"Right," Raiden nodded, parking his motorcycle not far from the burnt village. "Alright, I'm here. I'll contact you if I need anything."

"Don't forget to keep an eye out for traps," Kevin warned.

"I will do," Raiden responded before ending the call. "Raiden out."

Once the call was over, Raiden walked carefully and cautiously, heading into what was left of the village. All of the wooden houses had been burned down. Currently nobody was investigating the site, though it was likely that teams of investigators would be on their way soon.

Raiden looked under the burnt wood, trying to find anything that could be of use to him. The burnt corpses of the villagers made Raiden feel a little uneasy, though he did proceed to examine some bodies in case they held any clues. He found nothing.

"Damn it..." the cyborg rasped, standing up to his full height after rummaging through the remains of a destroyed house. He then began crawling along the floor, looking for footprints. To his annoyance, all of the footprints were smudged in the dirt.

Raiden began to rummage through every pile of rubble he could find, only to discover that there was barely anything that could be considered as useful. But just as he was about to give up, he found a body which hadn't been burnt to a crisp.

In fact, this body was _breathing._

Surprised, Raiden dug what appeared to be a young teenage girl out of the rubble. She was covered in many burn wounds, though none of them looked fatal. Raiden lay the girl down as he dug through the rest of the rubble, only to find that there weren't even any corpses in this pile. This did indeed confuse the cyborg, though he didn't stay focused on his confusion for long. Instead, he decided that it was vital to contact Kevin.

"Kevin, I've found a survivor," he told him.

"A survivor?" Kevin questioned. "But... how is there a survivor? The entire village was burned to the ground!"

"I'm not sure how it's possible, but it is," Raiden replied. "Though I haven't found any other survivors."

"Search for more just in case there are any," Kevin instructed. "I'm sending a helicopter to pick you up as soon as possible, so make your search quick."

"Very well," Raiden nodded before hanging up.

Raiden did as he was told and searched thoroughly through every wrecked building, but all he could find were burnt corpses. While he waited for the helicopter he decided to do one final check in case there were any traces of the cyborg unit, but he found nothing.

The helicopter had eventually arrived and picked Raiden up. Raiden made sure that the girl was stable before the helicopter took off and headed back Maverick's headquarters.

...

After arriving back, Raiden carried the unconscious teen into the command centre. Since he had resigned he didn't exactly want much more to do with Maverick, though now and thend he would still do small jobs for them, never committing to doing full-time missions.

"It's good to see you again in the flesh, Raiden," Boris greeted with a smile on his face, having not seen Raiden in a long time. "Well... flesh may be stretching it a little, da?"

"Yeah, probably," Raiden chuckled, lying the girl down. "Listen. I'd love to stick around and catch up with you all, but I've got business to take care of."

"With Phoenix?" Kevin guessed. "Raiden, you don't even know anything about this organization yet. You can't just go out there and search for them on your own."

"Kevin has a point, Raiden," Courtney agreed. "You have no idea what you're up against."

"I've handled a lot of things on my own," Raiden reminded.

"I don't think something like this will be as easy as you think," Courtney admitted. "I've been doing some research and I've found out a lot of Phoenix's plans. Their main plan is to build a perfect cyborg which could take you on in a fight, then they plan on making an army of cyborgs like this."

"The point is that they haven't succeeded in building a cyborg like that yet," Raiden countered. "I'll stop them before they can do such a thing."

Before anything else could be said, the sound of heavy coughing could be heard. The group turned and saw that the teenager was waking up.

"She shouldn't be waking up yet," Courtney stated. "Not in that condition."

The girl sat up, coughing loudly and painfully. She opened her eyes and stared ahead of her, her expression blank. It was clear that the events of last night had left her in a state of complete shock, not reacting to the pain from her wounds or her surroundings. Eventually the girl blinked and turned her head slowly towards the others who were in the room with her. Upon seeing Raiden, she gasped fearfully.

"S-Stay away from me...!" she yelled, sounding angry yet fearful as she shuffled backwards. She then hissed in pain as she held her scalded arm. The girl curled up, holding back her tears.

Raiden looked confused for a moment, but realised that he probably resembled the cyborgs who had attacked the village. He turned to face Courtney. "You speak with her," he said to her quietly. "Try and see if you can learn something from her." With that, Raiden left the room.

 **~End of Chapter~**


	2. Chapter 2: Blade

**~Chapter 2: Blade~**

Courtney pulled up a chair and sat in front of the girl, seeing that she had curled up in an attempt to put pressure on as many injuries as she could. Her body trembled as she hyperventilated shakily, tears trying to escape her tightly-shut eyes.

"...You saw them, didn't you?" Courtney asked her softly. "The cyborgs?"

"The terrorists," the girl hissed darkly as some tears escaped her pain-filled eyes. "They took away my village... They killed everybody!"

"...I'm very sorry," Courtney said awkwardly, attempting to have sympathy. "How did you survive? Were you spared? Lucky? What happened?"

Instead of responding this time the girl was silent. She was in no mood to talk about what had happened. Courtney observed her for a moment as if trying to read both her posture and facial expression before she stood up from her seat. "I'll see what we can do to treat your injuries here," she assured, leaving the room. The first person on her mind was Wilhelm Voigt, commonly known as Doktor to his colleagues.

On the way to find Doktor Courtney passed by Raiden, seeing that he was stood with his back against the wall. Raiden looked at her and stepped forward. "How is she?" he asked.

"I can't say that she's alright," Courtney admitted. "Though I'd recommend that you stayed well away from her; cyborgs seem to freak her out."

"Kids shouldn't have to go through these sorta things," Raiden stated, looking down slightly as he recalled his past once again. Courtney knew that it was never good when Raiden had flashbacks, deciding to snap him out of it.

"You're right, Raiden," she told him. "Can you do me a favour and get Doktor? He must know something about treating wounds."

"Probably, though he specializes in cybernetics more than anything else," Raiden reminded.

"I'm sorry, but do you know anyone else who could do a better job?" Courtney interrogated, folding her arms. This caused Raiden to frown and turn away in defeat. "That's what I thought, Mr Lightning Bolt," the young woman smirked slightly as she concluded the fact that Doktor was in fact the best choice for healing somebody's injuries.

"Alright, I'll go get him," Raiden responded, leaving the room to find Doktor. Courtney watched him leave, deciding to continue with her work as she knew that there was nothing more she could currently do regarding the girl.

...

Doktor entered the room, seeing the state of the young girl. Unlike most ordinary people, Doktor was more impressed than sympathetic, finding it amazing that a girl her age wasn't screaming in agony by this point. If she was in shock then she wouldn't be responding to the pain at all, but it was indeed obvious that she felt something.

"You seem to be handling your injuries rather well," Doktor acknowledged, speaking in his heavy German accent. "I'm quite impressed."

There was no worded response from the teenager, though she did shoot him a rather hateful and pain-filled glare, silently telling him that she actually wanted the pain to stop. Doktor noticed this and let out a sigh. "Very well," he said, sitting down in the chair which Courtney was sat on previously. "I will do all that I can. This might sting a little."

...

Raiden paced back and forth, silently wondering when he would be allowed to leave. In theory he could leave at any moment, but when it came to children he was often rather weak. However, it could be argued that his "weakness" for children also motivated him. Just like when he pushed himself to stop Desperado and help those children. Sure, they may have become cyborgs, but at least they weren't being used like he was.

The weak yet pained screams of the girl were just audible from behind the closed door. Raiden listened to the shrieks for a brief moment before deciding to walk out of hearing range. He headed over to Kevin.

"Kevin. I want you to tell me exactly how that kid's doing once Doktor finishes with the surgery," the cyborg commanded. "I'm gonna head off to see how Sunny is doing; it's been a while since I last saw her. George and Blade Wolf too, of course."

"You're not gonna stick around?" Kevin asked him, slouched in his chair.

"I don't want anything more to do with this company," Raiden replied blatantly. "I only do the odd favour. Don't try to re-hire me or anything."

"Alright, buddy," Kevin responded, almost sounding quite sad. Out of everyone at Maverick, Kevin was the one Raiden was the most friendly with. They were like best friends a lot of the time, unless Raiden was in a bad mood.

Raiden said nothing more as he made his leave, not saying any dramatic goodbyes as some people would do. He left on his motorcycle, making his way to the company where Sunny worked: Solis Space & Aeronautics.

...

After Doktor had finished performing the surgery (or what he could do, at least), the teenager remained asleep for about an hour. She had been placed into one of the bunk beds while she slept, but now she was awakening slowly. The girl rubbed her head and grimaced, clamping her eyes shut; she felt as if she had just been run over by a tank.

Eventually the girl managed to adjust to her surroundings, climbing out of bed. Her legs stung a little due to being stitched up and treated, so her walk was more of a hobble. The young teenager supported herself against the wall, easing her way to the door. Hesitantly she punched the button on the control panel on the wall beside the door, causing the door to slide open. She then proceeded to drag herself out of the room.

Courtney caught sight of her, instantly throwing herself from her chair and rushing over, seeing that the girl was about to collapse. "Hey, be careful!" she warned softly, reaching to help the girl walk. The girl pushed her away angrily.

"Don't touch me!" she bellowed. Courtney stared at her, unsure what to do. It was clear that the girl was extremely angry and possibly dangerous, looking like she would lash out at just about anything. The girl panted heavily, staring at the floor. After a few moments, she seemed to calm down, looking up at Courtney. "Where am I?" she asked darkly.

"You are at Maverick headquarters," Courtney answered.

"Where are my family?!" the girl demanded. Courtney was unsure how to respond. She couldn't just tell her that her family were probably dead. But then again, what else could she say?

The girl glared angrily at her. "They're dead, aren't they? They were killed too!"

"Listen... I will explain everything to you if you just calm down, okay?" Courtney promised. At first the girl looked like she was going to once again become hostile, but instead she decided to take in a deep breath and calm down, sitting herself on the same chair from before. Courtney wore a face of relief.

"Alright then, can you start by telling me your name first?" she asked.

The girl looked up at her, her stare quite cold. "To you, my name is Blade."

 **~End of Chapter~**


	3. Chapter 3: Mentor

**~Chapter 3: Mentor~**

Courtney folded her arms and shuffled slightly on the spot, taking a brief pause before responding to the teenager. "Blade, huh? Your name is Blade?" she asked.

"Yes," the girl, Blade, answered.

"I see. ...Blade what? Don't you have a last name?" Courtney interrogated.

"It's just Blade," Blade emphasized. Her words did not entirely convince Courtney, but since she insisted that her name was Blade Courtney decided not to question it further.

"Right then..." the woman proceeded. "So far we have learned that your village was attacked by a cyborg unit known as the Swords of the Firebird. They work for a PMC known as Phoenix, though we do not know what Phoenix's motives are." Courtney then knelt down a little so that she was level with the young teen. "Can you tell me anything, _anything at all,_ that could be useful to us? Anything about your village? The cyborgs?"

Blade stared at her and was about to refuse, but instead she chose to answer shakily. She stared at the floor uncomfortably as she responded to the question. "The people who lived in my village were mercenaries who worked for the US army," she explained. "Many of them were highly skilled and would sometimes work for PMCs such as this one of yours. The village was supposed to be secret to everyone besides allies, but somehow it was discovered and... well..."

"Destroyed," Courtney finished, causing Blade to flinch slightly. "It seems as though your village was wiped out by Phoenix because the organization felt threatened by the villagers. I'm assuming that your family also had military connections?"

"...My parents were once spies for the US army," Blade answered slowly, feeling quite upset when talking about her own family. "Some people said that they were the most skilled spies in the entire village. My father taught me to fight from an early age and expected me to surpass the average grades for a girl my age. He and my mother both wanted me to be good at science and maths and literacy... All the academic subjects."

"Which school did you go to?" Courtney asked out of curiosity.

"All the children in my village were homeschooled," Blade clarified. "Nobody wanted to risk their kids accidentally revealing some top secret information. ...Though in the end it seems like some secret information was revealed anyway..."

There was a silence of both awkwardness and sombreness before Courtney arose to her full height once again. "I should really thank you for what you've told me. It could come in handy for when it comes to tracking down Phoenix and discovering their motives," she thanked formally. "Now I'm gonna go talk to the others about finding a home of some sort which would take you in."

Blade looked up at her swiftly. "A home?" she asked, sounding as if she was panicking.

"There's nowhere else for you to go," Courtney told her. "It's not safe for you to stay here."

"I want to help," Blade stated just as Courtney had finished her sentence. Courtney stared at her oddly.

"...Blade," she began after a relatively long pause. "You're far too young to be in the military business."

"What if I prove to you that I have the necessary skills?" Blade questioned. "Perhaps I'm not the greatest, but I know more about fighting and surviving than most other girls my age do! I'd rather die in the battlefield than live in a home where all my years of training and education will be taken away from me! Are you telling me that in this day and age there are still age laws when it comes to the military?! In a world where war is happening almost everywhere?!"

Courtney fell silent, shocked at just how determined the girl was to basically throw her life chances away. She took this response as an indication that Blade, like all the other children from her village, was raised in a way which basically prepared her for the battlefield as that's where her parents obviously wanted her to end up. Courtney thought that this was just extreme and incredibly harsh, but realised that Blade probably didn't know any different lifestyle. In conclusion to her observation, Courtney put it into her mind that Blade was actually scared of being put in a situation involving a normal life and would probably even commit suicide due to her isolation.

Blade seemed to have calmed herself down a little, now looking more desperate as if she was about to get on her knees and beg. "I want to fight like my parents did... I want to avenge my village...! It's only right if me, the sole survivor of the attack, avenges my people! My friends! My family!"

"It's not my position to just accept your offer..." Courtney admitted, defeated at last. "But maybe if you show us what you can do then we can assign you a spot either here or elsewhere." The young woman then looked at Blade seriously. "You say that you're "skilled", but what do you mean by that?"

"My parents trained me to fight with dual swords," Blade answered. "I originally trained with bokkens, but I did start using dual katanas."

"Swords? You're skilled with swords? Not guns or bomb-wiring?" Courtney queried, almost sounding disappointed.

"Yes," Blade responded simply. "I know a lot of moves. Every night I'd watch TV shows and movies like _'The Seven Samurai'_ from a very early age. It helped me memorize specific techniques which I could apply to either one or both swords."

"If you're good at stealth then that would make things a lot easier," Courtney said quietly. Blade looked quite ashamed.

"My mother was teaching me the basics of stealth before the attack..." she revealed. "I never got onto the advanced stuff."

Courtney let out a heavy sigh. "You're not going to do any kind of mission if you're not thoroughly trained with stealth," she clarified. "And the only stealth expert I know is Raiden, but I highly doubt that he'd even consider teaching you anything."

"Is Raiden that... cyborg?" Blade questioned.

"Yes. The one you were scared of," Courtney reminded. "Another reason why you couldn't be taught by him."

"I'm not scared of him, I was just startled because of the cyborg attack," Blade corrected. "I'm forbidden to be afraid of anything. I feel foolish for being afraid of the cyborg terrorists..."

"It's normal to be afraid," Courtney assured plainly. "Even Raiden is afraid at times, and he's _really_ tough."

Blade seemed surprised. "...Huh," was all she could say.

...

Raiden was catching up with Sunny, asking if she was alright and also querying about her latest inventions and ideas. She had come up with many extraordinary ideas, though he believed that she was fully capable of creating them. After all, she did build a shuttle.

At some point Raiden decided to step aside and call Kevin on his codec impatiently.

"Yeah, buddy?" Kevin asked when answering the call.

"How is she?" Raiden demanded.

"Who? The girl you found?" Kevin questioned.

"Yes," Raiden answered.

"She's fine," Kevin assured. "She's told us some more information regarding her village which could help us out with Phoenix's intentions. She told us that her entire village consisted of mercenaries and she herself was being raised from a very early age to become one as well."

Raiden looked dark. "So it wasn't a peaceful village after all," he spat.

"Not necessarily," Kevin agreed. "But this girl is determinded to get revenge. She calls herself "Blade" which is clearly an alias of some sort. If you ask me she's one hundred percent military minded. The only problem is that she's a little young to be getting involved in this kind of stuff, not to mention that she is mostly skilled with sword combat and isn't too great with stealth. In fact, Courtney was wondering if you'd... train her?"

"No way," Raiden answered clearly. "I don't train kids to fight. She'll only end up like me."

"She already has ended up like you," Kevin admitted, causing a brief silence.

"...She's still got more of a chance than I ever had. She hasn't seen war yet. I saw war when I was six years old."

"I know, buddy. But the only other option is to send her away to a care home. Courtney's worried that she'll isolate herself from society and ultimately end her own life; she hasn't had any experience with a regular lifestyle."

Raiden grumbled a little and paced, frustrated. "Her life would end on the battlefield anyway," he stated. "Does she have a death wish of some sort? Is there nothing else you can do to keep her safe?!"

"I'm afraid nothing's come up so far," Kevin sighed. "Could you just... call by? You have a somewhat similar childhood mindset to hers... Maybe you could change her mind?"

"Yeah, I'm fucked up. That automatically makes me similar to her," Raiden growled.

"Raiden, take it easy," Kevin soothed, hiding his growing worry. "Blade could actually be useful if she truly is as good as she says she is. All she needs is... a little mentoring. Either that or she needs to hear the words from an experienced agent such as yourself; none of us can actually convince her to stay out of the war business."

After a pause as Raiden stood with his teeth clenched, he decided to ease himself. "Fine, I'll be there shortly," he decided. "But don't be asking favours like this too often."

"You already told me not to do that," Kevin reminded.

"Just making sure that you remembered," Raiden mocked discreetly before hanging up. He was quite irritated that he had actually given in to coming back once again, let alone to actually give advice to a child about fighting for the military. It wasn't something he recommended to young people.

Not to mention that too many reminders of his past would awaken Jack the Ripper once again...

 **~End of Chapter~**


	4. Chapter 4: Training

**~Chapter 4: Training~**

Courtney and Kevin were both keeping a close eye on Blade, waiting for Raiden to arrive. There was a lot of tension due to Blade's hostile expression as she sat with clenched fists, staring at the ground in deep thought. It was incredibly silent and it felt like forever until Raiden finally entered the headquarters. Both Courtney and Kevin turned to look at him, almost looking relieved.

"I thought you'd never actually show up," Kevin said with a sarcastic yet friendly smile on his face. What he said did not seem to amuse Raiden one bit; instead he narrowed his eyes in irritation, coldly ignoring the remark made by his friend.

"Where is she?" he demanded, sounding quite snappy.

"In there," Courtney answered quietly, pointing into the room both she and Kevin had been watching through the door's window. Blade was still in her tense position, remaining in deep thought. Raiden saw her and was still for a moment before making his way into the room strongly. His sudden presence startled Blade, causing her to jump up from her seat and raise her fists.

"Nice reflexes," Raiden responded sarcastically, already assessing the teenager. "But you need to do more than raise your fists if an enemy is approaching you with high speed."

Blade narrowed her eyes, seemingly offended. "I wasn't expecting an enemy to barge in here," she hissed.

"So what was the point in leaping up and raising your fists, huh?" Raiden interrogated. "Is that your way of saying hello?"

"I do it if I'm startled," Blade explained. "If something snaps me out of a thought or if something appears or happens so suddenly."

"Very well," Raiden shrugged. "But I'm not here to talk about your reflexes. I'm here to talk about your life choices."

Blade frowned. "I'm not going to some care home," she protested. This statement caused Raiden to narrow his one eye.

"Are you seriously saying that you would rather live a life which promises nothing but loss, pain and restlessness over a life which promises peace, second chances and easiness?" the cyborg queried.

"I will never be able to live peacefully," Blade corrected through her grit teeth. "Besides, the incident regarding Phoenix is my business over yours and theirs." She gestured to the door leading outside of the room when she said "theirs", referring to Courtney and the others. "You might see me as some useless and weak kid, but you have no idea what I'm capable of. My age doesn't automatically show my abilities!"

"It's not about how capable you are," Raiden reminded. "I could shoot and kill people with a gun when I was six. My kill streak was higher than anyone else's during the war I fought in. You? You haven't even tasted war from what I can tell. I'd say you either wanna fight for 'glory' or simply for revenge. When you actually get out there and see what war does to people you'll run for cover and cry in fear."

By this point Blade got up to her feet and marched over to Raiden, standing just a centimeter away from him. Her attempt at intimidating the man failed due to the fact that Raiden was much taller and he was capable of defending himself against a regular human, let alone a short thirteen-year-old. Nonetheless, Blade proceeded to threaten him.

"Listen here, cyborg. I may not have experienced war myself, but I know what war is like. I watched real footage from hundreds of different wars. My parents weren't afraid to tell me the realities of the battlefield. They told me how some of the people in my village died on duty, giving me every detail. And don't even get me started on how tough my father was with me regarding my training. So before you confirm in your mind that I'm some naive teenager, I just wanna remind you that I know about it all, and I'm prepared for it all. "

Raiden stared down at the girl, wordless for a moment. He then turned around so that he was no longer facing her, irritated. He knew that a young girl couldn't be exposed to such danger, but he had never come across anyone - adult or child - as insistent and desperate as Blade. Letting out an angry and heavy sigh, Raiden turned back around to face the teen.

"Alright then, "Blade", you got me," he admitted. "I can't convince you to change your mind, so I guess that means I got no choice but to consider mentoring you as Kev said I should. But I'll only consider it if you prove that you can actually wield a sword as you said you could."

"My swords were lost during the blaze," Blade told him. "I don't have a sword to use."

Raiden frowned. "I guess that means you can only use my sword for now. I'll get Doktor to make some new swords for you if you prove yourself," he explained. He then gestured towards the door with his head as he began walking. "Follow me."

Blade instantly walked after the cyborg, seeing that he was heading outside. Once the pair were outside surrounded by plenty of space, Raiden drew his sword. He looked at it for a moment, then at Blade, before finally passing the sword to the teen.

"Be careful with this," he warned. "It's a high-frequency blade. Surely you know what they are."

"Oh, I know about these alright," Blade said, looking as if she was smiling a little. Raiden then looked towards a drum can, causing Blade to look at it as well.

"See that barrel? I want you to slice it in half as fast as you can," he commanded, stepping back to give Blade some more room.

Blade looked at Raiden, then back at the can. She gripped the sword firmly with both hands, squinting to perfect her aim. Blade seemed to point at the drum can with her sword before suddenly dashing towards it. Instead of doing a vertical cut which Raiden expected her to go for, Blade let go of the sword with one hand and skidded on one heel. Her body was falling backwards as she slid towards the drum can, but as she passed it she managed to swing the sword and cut all the way through it horizontally. After she did that, she spun around on her heel and stabbed the sword into the ground, using her other hand to stop her from falling straight onto her front. Once she had control of her body's centre of gravity, she stood up back on both feet and pulled the sword from the ground, walking back over to Raiden and handing the sword back to him. The cyborg took it from her hand slowly.

"...Not bad," was all he had to say. "For a teenage girl." His banterous remark caused Blade to frown. Raiden briefly smiled at the girl's expression. "I'm just kidding. You did pretty well," he told her truthfully.

Blade's expression brightened up a little. "So, will you train me now?" she asked, sparkles of hope in her eyes.

"Not just yet," Raiden answered, dimming the girl's hopeful expression. "All you did was slice a drum can in half. You need to be able to do a little more than that."

"Then tell me what to do," Blade responded simply. This caused Raiden to think. Everything that came to mind involved a sparring match, but he knew for a fact that he would be putting Blade in danger if he did that. It took him a moment to think, but eventually he came to a conclusion.

"I suppose you could do some VR combat," he offered. "That way you can show off all the skills you say you have without getting into real danger."

"Sounds like fun," Blade thought out loud. She followed Raiden back inside to show him what she could do.

Once the two were back inside, Blade was ready for her VR combat. The world around her was completely virtual and practically harmless to her.

"Alright. When the enemies appear, I want you to demonstrate your abilities at their full potential. Got it?" Raiden instructed.

"Got it," Blade replied to him, readying the sword Raiden had given to her once again. Three enemies materialized into the virtual world. Blade noted down in her mind that the enemies looked very realistic as they all prepared to attack her. Each one was armed with a machine gun which Blade didn't focus on identifying. Instead she darted forward, going straight for the kill. She sliced diagonally through the foe she attacked first, and since she was using a high-frequency blade the enemy just split in half.

The second enemy was to the left, running towards Blade with his guns aimed at her. Blade turned and ducked quickly to avoid the incoming gunfire from him. Once the foe fired his shots, Blade darted towards him with the sword pointing forwards. Before her opponent could react, he ran into the sword's blade and was completely impaled, causing him to die instantly.

The third enemy had already shot Blade in the shoulder, causing her great pain despite the fact that she was in a simulated world. Immediately Blade turned around and swung her leg, kicking the virtual man in the side. This caused him to lean sideways awkwardly in an attempt to regain his balance, but as he did this Blade, like with the drum can, sliced him in half horizontally. Once this final enemy was down, Blade held her shoulder from the bullet wound. The world around her began to pixelate and fade, taking the pain with it.

Raiden approached the young teen. "Wow," he said, though he only sounded casual. "You actually impressed me. To an extent, that is." The cyborg ninja reclaimed his blade, slipping it back into it's sheath. The brown haired girl looked up at him.

"So, will you consider training me?" she questioned, sounding a lot less hostile as she spoke this time. "I swear, I won't disappoint you. Besides, I may even go to a home after I'm done with Phoenix... I-If you really want me to..."

Seeing that Blade did genuinely look worried about going to a home, Raiden couldn't help but give in. Again, his weakness for children and the innocent almost always won him over in situations such as this.

"Very well," he said after letting out a heavy sigh. Blade perked up in a hopeful way as Raiden explained the conditions of his deal. "I'll train you. But only in stealth. Also, when you're ready to be assigned objectives I'm gonna accompany you. Just to make sure nothing bad happens."

For a split second Blade seemed disappointed since she enjoyed being independent, but then she nodded with a small smile. "Alright then. That sounds as fair as it's gonna get," she said with shrug, extending her hand for a formal hand shake. "I agree to that."

Raiden firmly shook Blade's hand, almost surprised that a teenager would show such respect to an adult. "And I will keep to my word," he told her, concluding the deal.

 **~End of Chapter~**


	5. Chapter 5: Ready

**~Chapter 5: Ready~**

 _Three Months Later..._

Blade was now dressed in camo gear: trousers and jacket. Her short hair was down but her fringe was pulled back by a dark green headband made of cloth. As promised, Raiden had Doktor craft some dual swords for the teen to use. It had taken Blade a while to get used to the swords since they weren't identical to the katanas she had been using during her training back in her village, but they were a lot stronger when delivering blows to a target. It was only recently that Blade got used to the two swords since previously she was either too slow when using them, not as accurate or would just end up injuring herself.

Raiden watched Blade as she swung her swords around happily. He had a proud smile on his face, but the smile faded. He remembered his days as a child soldier. As he remembered his past he ended up holding his head, almost as if remembering those days hurt him physically.

"Raiden!" Blade called, jogging over as Raiden awoke from his memories. "I really think I'm ready to face those cyborgs now. And take down Phoenix for what they did."

The cyborg stared at her for a moment before responding. "...Right," was all he could say. "But before we rush into doing anything stupid, let's go and see what Sunny has found out." He then led Blade inside. However, they were no longer at Maverick HQ. Instead the two were staying at a company which didn't primarily focus on war; they were currently located at the company known as Solis, where Sunny worked full-time.

Most people would have expected Sunny and Blade to have spoken to each other at some point due to them both being girls of a similar age, but the two never even exchanged positive glances. After all, with Sunny being socially shy and Blade alienating herself from a normal lifestyle, it was difficult for either of them to start a conversation. This didn't concern Raiden since he was aware of what both girls were like, especially Sunny.

Blade had to wait outside the room where Raiden had entered since he had to talk through a few things with his young friend, not to mention that Blade's presence always made Sunny tense and awkward.

"So, how'd she do?" Sunny asked Raiden, questioning how Blade's training had gone that day.

"...She did well," Raiden answered after a brief pause. "She thinks she's ready to throw herself into conflict, but... I'm still not so sure."

"You're scared, aren't you?" Sunny guessed, earning a strange look from the cyborg. "You like to protect people, and when you believe that someone is weak you don't like the thought of them getting into a dangerous situation and ultimately losing their life."

For a moment Raiden was silent. After all, Sunny was right. He was indeed worried about Blade merely because she was young and, in his eyes, vulnerable. Despite Blade proving to him that she could defend herself, Raiden couldn't help but envision her being brutally killed early on in a battle. But a promise was a promise; he couldn't turn her down now.

"...Yeah," he admitted quietly. "You know me too well, Sunny."

Sunny chuckled sweetly. "It's okay to be afraid," she stated. "If people weren't afraid... they wouldn't be people. They'd be..."

"Robots," Raiden finished for her.

"No!" Sunny responded. "I was going to say monsters! Monsters don't feel anything except for satisfaction whenever they hurt somebody... and they hunger for power so that they can hurt even more people. Monsters are never allocated to one group of beings because... they can be born from just about anything, mechanical or human. Some monsters are made on purpose, while others... are accidents."

Raiden stared at her for a moment before pacing around slowly, his expression thoughtful. "What's your definition of an accidental monster...?" he queried.

"Huh?" Sunny responded, not expecting the cyborg to further question her. "...Well... accidental monsters are usually people who... are forced to be a certain way or suffer from something so bad that they lose their humanity. Sometimes they can recover and turn back to normal people... but sometimes they just can't..."

"Right," Raiden nodded. A monster that was forced to be a certain way but recovered. That's how many viewed him. Perhaps he was what Sunny was actually referring to. In his childhood he felt nothing whenever he killed someone, and if he ever did feel something it was definitely satisfaction. But as he grew older, as he became who is now, he discovered that he _could_ care for others. That he _could_ feel remorse for his actions. He had a wife, he had a child, he had a family. Something that a monster would never have.

It was entirely possible that Sunny was also referring to Blade. Blade was a human who had been trained to be a soldier from an early age. The only thing programmed into her mind was war and bloodshed. That was all she knew, and on top of all that she was also pretty good at each academic subject. It seemed less likely that Blade actually was a monster; monsters weren't intelligent in academic subjects. Monsters didn't desire revenge, nor did they fight for a personal cause besides gaining power. Monsters didn't have emotions. Blade has at least smiled from time to time.

"...So... do you feel that it is okay to justify the actions of those accidental monsters you speak of?" the cyborg interrogated. He could see Sunny hesitate to answer.

"Um... well..." she stuttered.

"I don't think it's okay, if you want my opinion," Raiden interrupted. "Any bad action cannot be justified no matter what. I don't justify my past mistakes, nor do I justify the mistakes of anyone else like me." The man paused for a moment before continuing. "It's alright to feel pity for some of those accidental monsters. After all, they can't help that they've turned out the way they are. But it's best to put them out of their misery, for the sake of others... and for the sake of themselves."

"Right," Sunny nodded in agreement, trying to return to being her usual quirky self. The conversation seemed to end there, so Sunny decided to start a new one. "So... Do you think you should let Blade know that she's ready? I think it's about time she started receiving objectives."

Raiden's blue eye locked onto her. He had almost forgot about Blade being ready for actual combat. "...Yeah, it's about time I told her," he replied. "She's been training pretty hard for the past three months, and she's improved a lot."

Sunny smiled cheerily. "Go tell her," she insisted. "If you and her are both planning to take out this Phoenix organization, you'd better move ASAP."

Raiden chuckled a little. "Sure thing, Sunny," he said before approaching the door. Before he opened it, he came to a halt and glanced back at his old friend. "...Oh, and one more thing..." he began. "We're gonna need your help, too. Not out on the battlefield, but we'll need intel. You're the best person I know for obtaining that, not to mention you can build some pretty useful pieces of tech."

"Really? You'll need my help?" Sunny gasped, sounding overjoyed. She then smiled and saluted happily. "I'll be happy to be of assistance, Mr. Lightning Bolt!"

"I wish people would stop calling me that..." Raiden sighed before opening the door. He smiled back at Sunny once last time before leaving the room.

Blade strolled over to him, her arms folded in her usual defensive manner, but her facial expression seemed relaxed. In fact, she was even smiling slightly. "I got bored of sitting outside the room, so I went outside for a little bit longer," she admitted.

"That's alright," Raiden assured. "Were you training?"

"Yeah. Bladewolf was there to assess me, so I knew if I was screwing up or not," Blade answered.

"Hmph," Raiden responded as a slight chuckle before he returned to being serious. "...Blade. You've improved a lot since your training first began. You can weild your swords with ease, your reflexes are sharp and your stealth techniques are almost flawless. You've even shown exceptional skills with different variants of guns. ...I'd say you're ready to get out on the field."

Blade looked up at him, her green eyes wide. "You... you mean it...?" she asked slowly.

"Hey, do I look like the sorta guy to joke around about these kinda things?" Raiden asked, frowning.

"No, you don't look like the sorta guy who'd joke around at all..." Blade answered. Raiden let out a sigh.

"Listen. You may be ready, but nobody can predict when someone will die out on the battlefield. Not even the best soldiers are unkillable, y'know."

"I know that," Blade responded as if it was common knowledge that everyone should know. "I know that I'll probably end up dying in battle one day. But right now, I intend to stop Phoenix. That is my ultimate goal. I won't let myself die unless my death helps weaken the organization."

"Do your best to avoid such a fate," Raiden muttered, even though he knew that he'd be by Blade's side throughout most of the missions, and he swore to protect those who were weaker than him.

Blade nodded her head at Raiden's comment, determined to live for as long as possible. She wanted to watch Phoenix fall, and hopefully it would never be reborn from its ashes.

...

The next day, Raiden had gone to see Sunny during the morning. Once again Blade was left to occupy herself while the two conversed, and this time Raiden took longer to talk with the young girl. When he did eventually exit the room Sunny worked in, Blade instantly approached him.

"What took you so long?" she asked.

"Sunny was giving me some information regarding the Swords of the Firebird," Raiden explained. "Apparently they have arranged to meet up together in New Mexico in three days; we should make our way over there and see what's going on."

Blade nodded her head. "Sounds like a plan," she agreed.

"Remember to be careful when we get there," Raiden reminded, appearing stern. "You don't wanna make a scene or anything. We'd both get caught. Or killed."

"I know what I have to do," Blade sighed, rolling her eyes. "I didn't forget my training overnight, y'know."

"Good," Raiden nodded.

The sound of metallic footprints could be heard, catching the attention of both Raiden and Blade.

"I will be accompanying you on your mission to assist you in your objective," spoke Bladewolf as he approached the pair.

"I think it's better if you stay here, Bladewolf," Raiden responded, uncertain if it was safe to bring Bladewolf along due to the fact that he'd end up giving away their cover.

"Negative," Bladewolf refused. "I will scout nearby areas and alert you if there is danger."

"You won't be able to remain unseen by the public," Raiden pointed out.

"The rendezvous point for the Swords of the Firebird is located in the ruins of San Antonio," Bladewolf countered. "There is no population there. Sunny has instructed me to scout the nearby areas of the rendezvous point when you are investigating the Swords of the Firebird. She has informed me that there is a chance that the area could be guarded or others could be arriving."

"Oh. Sunny told you to come with us," Raiden noticed, not sounding amused. "I guess that means you really won't be convinced to change your mind."

"It is impossible for me to change my mind," Bladewolf pointed out. "And I have calculated that without my assistance you could both be at risk of being detected by soldiers you did not suspect were there."

"He has a point, Raiden, we don't exactly know what could be there..." Blade agreed. "You may be a highly-skilled cyborg, but these guys are a whole bunch of people like you."

"I've taken out cyborgs like them in the past," Raiden huffed, recalling the Winds of Destruction. "I don't think these guys will really surprise me."

"You never know," Blade shrugged. "I saw them in my village that night. They seemed... unstoppable."

"Cyborgs will always overpower humans," Raiden clarified.

"They made my village seem like a village of weaklings," Blade elaborated. "I don't think all cyborgs can do that; my parents have fought cyborgs in the past."

"...Hmph," was all Raiden had to say. He didn't want to say something wrong in fear of upsetting Blade, so instead just started walking. "We're wasting time," he announced. "Let's take the helicopter. We'll land it just south of San Antonio to avoid being detected by possible enemies."

Blade watched him walk before following just behind him, Bladewolf at her side. Raiden looked back at her briefly to make sure she was following, but also to register her facial expression. She didn't seem fearful or apprehensive. She seemed confident. In a way, it worried him. As Sunny had said, everyone had to feel fear every now and then. But Blade was refusing to. Maybe she was slowly becoming a monster...

No. Blade was no monster. She was probably just not letting herself appear fearful. Either that or she just wasn't thinking about being afraid right now. Before she had shown that she was afraid of this particular group of cyborgs, so really she should be showing some nervousness at this point. But she wasn't. Either way, whether the girl was afraid or not, one thing was certain.

Blade was ready.

 **~End of Chapter~**


	6. Chapter 6: Mission

**~Chapter 6: Mission~**

Blade sat beside Raiden in the helicopter, the cyborg being the one flying the vehicle. Bladewolf was occupying the passenger area, having plenty of room since there were no other passengers. The trio had been in the air for some time, heading for their destination in New Mexico. Raiden kept it in his mind that he had to land south of the San Antonio ruins, also reminding himself to keep the helicopter hidden after landing. Nobody knew what the situation would be like when they arrived, so they all made sure to prepare for combat.

For the entire journey Blade appeared tense and ready to tackle anything. Her firm posture did not go unnoticed by Raiden, who had spotted her fearsome body language out of the corner of his eye, but he made no comment.

The flight was mostly silent. Nobody spoke unless it was necessary. To be more specific, Bladewolf said absolutely nothing while Blade would occasionally question Raiden. She seemed to be impatient since she was mostly asking about how far away their destination was, but soon enough the helicopter began its descent as Raiden announced that they had arrived.

Once the helicopter had landed near a mountain range, Raiden and his two associates left the vehicle. Blade still looked tense, her fists clenched. Again, Raiden didn't feel the need to bother her.

"The ruins of San Antonio are approximately one kilometer away from here," Bladewolf declared. Raiden nodded his head without looking at the cybernetic hound.

"Blade, you're with me," he stated. Blade frowned a little but chose not to complain; this was her first true mission, so it was right for her to not work alone. Bladewolf was already aware of his objective, so he ran ahead of the pair to make sure there was no sign of danger. Once he was further ahead, Raiden looked down at the young female standing beside him and nodded his head before running. He didn't activate his ninja running ability since Blade would have no chance at keeping up with him, so instead he just ran at a pace easy for Blade to match.

Both Raiden and Blade knew to keep relatively quiet, so again there was not much said between them. Neither of them spoke a word until Bladewolf called Raiden.

"Raiden, I have arrived at the San Antonio ruins," he informed.

"That's great," Raiden replied. "What do you see?"

"The security is low," Bladewolf described. "However, this may be because the Sword of the Firebird have not yet arrived."

"They're bound to have some kind of security," Raiden confirmed. "Bladewolf, be sure to stay out of sight; if you're spotted then we won't be able to learn anything from these guys."

"I will remain distant," Bladewolf assured. "I will also alert you if there are any potential threats approaching you."

"Perfect," Raiden responded. "Blade and I are approaching the ruins now. Raiden out."

With that Raiden ended the call, proceeding to run with Blade close behind him. There was once again silence as the duo ran until Raiden slowed down, holding out his arm to silently tell Blade to halt.

"Get down," he ordered, throwing himself onto his front. Blade followed the order, although she didn't see how this would keep them hidden; the land around them was just a flat desert, save for the ruined city of San Antonio ahead of them.

A tandem rotor helicopter was flying low, closing in on the ruins. It landed directly in the centre and the loud roar of the engine slowly died down. Raiden turned his head to face Blade and nodded his head, silently crawling along the ground. Blade followed closely behind him as Raiden led her to a ruined building for cover. The pair remained low on the ground, though they peeped their head out from behind the building in order to see the helicopter.

Out of the helicopter swarmed a number of guards clad in black with masks covering their faces, making them appear incredibly non-human. No doubt they were cyborgs like their suspected employers, which only added to the fact that they weren't human at all. At least, not anymore.

Once these soldiers had spread out to guard the city, four more people stepped out of the helicopter. Blade's eyes widened at the sight, her expression not going unnoticed. Raiden knew what this meant. These four were the cyborgs.

They were the Swords of the Firebird.

Raiden wanted to ask if Blade recognized any of the cyborgs and if any of them were more authorative than others, but instead he remained silent; for now it was too risky to make a sound, considering that guards now swarmed the ruins.

In order to stay out of sight, Raiden scanned the surrounding area with his eyes to try finding some kind of hiding spot. Behind this building was very inefficient and if any guards came looking the pair would be spotted immediately. Luckily Raiden caught sight of two worn drum cans. In the past he had used both drum cans and cardboard boxes for cover, and each time they had worked just fine for him. Silently the platinum-haired cyborg nodded towards the drum cans, only to earn a confused stare from his young companion. The older individual sighed silently, shuffling over to the drum can and pulling it over his head. Now he looked like a regular upright drum can. Blade now understood Raiden's intentions, so she crawled into the second drum can before sitting upright like Raiden was. The pair of them didn't look the least bit suspicious, not even as they slowly made their way closer to the city centre so that they could hear anything being said between the enemy cyborgs.

There were three male cyborgs and one female. The first cyborg was presumably the oldest one, perhaps only a few years younger than Raiden. He had tanned skin and bright blonde hair which had been slicked back. His cybernetic body was sleek and well-built, consisting mainly of black and some green. He seemed like someone who, in his more human days, spent time working out and sunbathing on the beach. Attached to his left hip was a sword, which Raiden identified as some kind of modern tuck, also known as an estoc - a type of sword used in the 14th to 17th centuries.

The second cyborg was a male who also had tanned skin, though not quite as dark as his comrade. His hair was dark brown and looked a little scruffy, though it seemed like the young man often tried to keep it neat. His body was sleek and slim, glimmering with a glossy paint of black and silver. His figure was slightly more feminine than the first cyborg's, even having rather inconveniently high heels on his feet. He too had a sword attached to his hip, but it was different and was located to the right. This sword resembled a rapier - a type of sword used in early modern Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries.

The third cyborg was the female, who seemed to be of Asian descent, most likely Japanese. Immediately Raiden recognized her weapon as a katana; silently he wondered if it was better than his own blade. This woman had black bobbed hair which was longer at the front compared to the back. Unlike the others she wore make-up on her face which defined her eyes and lips. Dark make-up. As for her cyborg body, she was incredibly slender. Her body was mainly coloured blue, though it was also black in some areas. Like the second cyborg she had high heels.

And finally there was the fourth cyborg. He was paler than the others, though his hair was jet black. A headband was on his forehead to obviously keep his relatively long hair out of his face. His cyborg body almost wasn't as advances as the others; in fact, he looked like someone who could easily pass as a normal human being since his primarily-green cybernetic body was wearing a sleeveless black jacket. He didn't seem to have a sword like the others did, and seemed to be the youngest out of the four.

Raiden narrowed his one visible eye. He thought that the final cyborg seemed oddly suspicious due to how different he was. He had no weapon and looked a lot more human. All of the cyborgs looked young, but he was definitely the youngest; he was also the shortest male, only being slightly taller than the female cyborg. But Raiden's suspicions soon went down as the group began to talk; they referred to an authorative figure, and the young cyborg seemed to be relatively quiet. Clearly he was the rookie.

The blonde male cyborg stretched his arms as he spoke up. "It's been quite a while since our last break," he pointed out. "We've been working our asses off for what, six months now? It's about time we all met up without the big guy."

" _Tu es con,_ we're not here to relax," hissed the other tanned male. "Our employer is a very busy man. You should know that by now."

The blonde cyborg rolled his eyes. "No need to be rude, Rapier," he responded. "It's not abnormal to want a break every now and then."

The brown-haired cyborg, Rapier, scowled at his comrade. "You speak like you are not loyal to our cause," he noted, clasping his hand around the hilt of his blade. "Maybe it would be safer to dispose of you before you have any thoughts about betraying us."

The female cyborg grasped his shoulder harshly. "Enough," she rasped, causing Rapier to reluctantly remove his hand from his sword. Her eyes were then on the lively cyborg who had seemingly started this childish squabble. "Estoc, you should understand that such careless speech is dangerous. We owe our lives to Phoenix. If it wasn't for their program then we would still be lost souls wandering in the streets. We would serve no purpose. Now we all have something to fight for. We fight for glory. We fight for Phoenix Industries. And most importantly, we fight for our lives."

Estoc sighed, almost looking irritable. "Alright, alright, I understand my mistake..." he replied, although he didn't seem to mean it. This female cyborg sensed this, but all she did was glare very briefly.

Rapier stepped forward. "We came here to retrieve some materials," he reminded. "Excalibur says that there are still important metals buried out here even after the various lootings. We need to retrieve the resources for his newest project, and any spare materials can be used for our own upgrades."

"Heh, some of us need refurbishing," Estoc added. "Right, Katana?"

The female, Katana, frowned at him once again; she was the one who prided her body the most. Not sharing the same humour as Estoc, she simply replied by saying: "The only one of us here who needs a true upgrade is Dagger."

The youngest cyborg, whom had remained completely silent throughout the discussion, didn't even perk up when his name was mentioned. For a moment the other three looked at him, silently agreeing that his cybernetic body wasn't the greatest, before they moved onto a new discussion.

"Excalibur said that the materials are buried along the northern outskirts of the city," Rapier announced as he started walking. "Our guards have the area surrounded so we should not be disturbed by any looters or potential threats."

Estoc chuckled somewhat sadistically as he followed his associate. "You say that like many things potentially threaten us," he said in a confident tone. As he and the others walked away their voices became muffled by the growing distance, and soon enough they were all out of sight.

Deciding that it was now safe to speak, Raiden stood up and placed down his drum can. Blade followed his movements, though unlike Raiden she did not appear calm. In her green eyes was a clear look of contained rage. She had just witnessed the four cyborgs who attacked her village interacting with one another as if slaughtering presumably countless villages of people was not a problem to live with. They were not guilty whatsoever.

"They'll probably take some time to find and retrieve those materials they were talking about," Raiden assumed, not wanting to focus on Blade's emotions. "We should investigate that helicopter before they get back. Come on."

Blade snapped out of her dark thoughts and watched Raiden. For a moment she was worried and uncertain, thinking that there may be some guards left in the helicopter, but she quickly followed her mentor. After all, those guards wouldn't stand a chance against him. Not even in large numbers.

Raiden made his way over to the helicopter, looking out for any guards. Some were in his sights, but they had their backs to him. The helicopter's door was still open - a careless move on the behalf of the enemy cyborgs, but Raiden was actually capable of slicing this helicopter in half, so he didn't see the open door as something convenient, anyway. Blade was right behind him as he entered the military carrier. The pair both kept their guards up while looking for anything that could be considered useful.

To their surprise, nobody was in the helicopter. Blade was actually the most disappointed, but Raiden didn't really focus on it too much. He just wanted to find out whatever he could before leaving. So the cyborg made a quick call to Bladewolf.

"Bladewolf, I need you to keep an eye on those elite cyborgs," he commanded. "Blade and I are in their helicopter. Let me know if they start heading back in our direction."

"Affirmative," Bladewold responded monotonously. That was all that was said between the two before the call was ended. Blade was already pacing through the helicopter slowly; it looked like a miniature control room, with computers and chairs and everything. The brunette approached one of the computers and activated it.

"Hey, Raiden, think you can get into this computer?" she asked, seeing that a password was needed.

Raiden turned his head in her direction, strolling over. "I can try," he replied. Blade stood aside as the older individual pressed a number of keys. She couldn't keep up with what he was doing, but soon enough the computer was unlocked.

"Heh. I've still got it," Raiden muttered to himself, a smug smile barely visible behind his metallic jaw.

"What did you do?" Blade asked curiously.

"If you wanted to learn you should've paid attention, kid," Raiden answered simply as he started clicking on folder after folder. There were many files, but by checking the most recent places he was able to find some useful records. Documents, videos, images, maps... they were all here. And some were quite shocking.

There were videos including footage and reports from across the world, all focusing on specific terror attacks. Presumably each attack was carried out by this elite cyborg unit in the name of their company. No video was older than six months old, proving that what the cyborg, Estoc, had said earlier was true; the Swords of the Firebird had been working for six months.

More discreet files such as the text documents focused on the more secretive attacks, including the attack on Blade's village in Oregon. Blade immediately caught sight of this and attempted to push Raiden aside, though really he stepped out of the way for her since he was difficult to shift. Blade's wide eyes stared at the document before she opened up a detailed report. No survivors. Too bad these cyborgs were going to suffer at the hands of the village's revenge before they could even prepare themselves.

As Blade scrolled down the report she began to scowl more and more, teeth clenched in anger. Her home had been wiped out because the company these cyborgs worked for, Phoenix Industries, _feared_ the inhabitants. They were only regular humans, but they were all highly skilled and disciplined. If they were to become cyborg rivals, they would have been much stronger than the Swords of the Firebird. Blade knew that for a fact.

Eventually Blade slowly stepped away from the computer. She faced away from Raiden as if hiding her expression in order to not show any sign of weakness. "...You can continue looking now," she said.

Raiden looked back at the computer and started looking through more files. He chose not to look at the ones Blade had checked for two reasons: First it was because he could ask her about what she read later on and second he didn't want her to see him poking his nose into an event so personal to her.

But while vacantly staring at the screen as he searched, his expression soon changed. His one visible eye went a little wide. Then wider. Then as wide as it could go.

These cyborgs - their entire company - had been doing some research into him.

And they were trying to find out about his family.

Blade didn't need to ask Raiden what was wrong, for she could see the images on the screen. Various documents and images of Raiden from over the years, collected from different sources. Stolen, probably. Even video footage taken privately while he was training could be seen.

"...What the hell...?" the cyborg muttered to himself. That was all he could say in this moment of shock. Horror. Did these cyborgs know anything about his family? They must've done. He couldn't let them come to harm; he had to protect them. He had to make sure these other cyborgs didn't find out who they were or where they lived.

Just then, Raiden received an incoming call from Bladewolf. "Raiden," the cybernetic hound began. "The targets are finishing their work and will be returning to the helicopter shortly, but they have ordered their soldiers to return first. It would be wise if you left now."

"Copy that," Raiden nodded, quickly hanging up and closing every file which had been recently opened on the computer. "Blade, make a run for it!" he commanded as he closed the documents.

"Without you?" Blade asked, sounding confused. "Isn't it better if we both leave at the same time? If we get spotted then fighting two against a small army is better than one, ri-"

"Just go!" Raiden yelled, locking the computer so that it didn't look like he had hacked into it. Blade nodded and sprinted, but now Raiden was with her. The two left the helicopter only to hear the shouts of guards and guns cocking.

Raiden grit his teeth and scowled, eyeing the soldiers as he slowed down to a halt beside Blade. Every guard's gun was aimed at them. The platinum-haired cyborg made a quick call to his other companion, not wanting to act too slowly since these men could all fire at once without warning; not too bad for him, but fatal for Blade.

"Bladewolf, we need backup," Raiden informed in a relatively calm tone. He gave Bladewolf no time to respond as he ended the call, quickly turning around and wrapping his arms around Blade protectively as the bullets swarmed them like angry wasps. By no means was Raiden immune to these attacks, but his pain inhibitors didn't allow him to feel anything from them. But the damage was showing, and he knew that he couldn't shield Blade for long like this, so he used one hand to quickly unsheath his sword. With his other arm he lifted Blade up and rose up to his full height, sprinting as fast as he could to the nearest building. The cyborg dove through the glassless window, rolling in order to protect the young human in his grasp as much as possible. Thankfully she was barely hurt, and no bullet had hit her.

Raiden carefully unwrapped his arms from around her, looking her right in the eye. "Stay here," he ordered.

"But!" Blade exclaimed.

"Stay!" Raiden repeated, getting up again and jumping back into the fight. Blade pushed herself up to her feet and went to the window, though she quickly ducked when a round of bullets was sent in her direction. The brunette grit her teeth; she wanted to fight. She had trained to get revenge for the people in her village. The people who were exterminated like ants by these careless fiends.

The cyborg ninja ran through large groups of these cyborg guards, slashing his sword almost carelessly. He cut them down in an instant, sprinting and cutting away. The fun hadn't even started and it was almost over; there were just a few survivors here and there.

As Raiden approached one of the injured guards, he barely even caught sight of Blade. In fact, he was close to striking at the moment she stepped in. The girl slide into the enemy cyborg, wrapping one leg around his throat to hold him in place before she raised both of her katanas and dug them into his chest, ripping him open and destroying his power source and thus killing him instantly. Raiden stared down at her as she kicked the lifeless shell away, standing back up on her two feet.

Raiden wanted to question Blade. He wanted to snap at her for not obeying orders. But there was no time for that; other injured cyborg guards were heading right for them. Raiden glowered and ran at them, continuing to slice them violently as he made sure to finish them off.

The ninja stood there, surrounded by the remains of other guards before Bladewolf scurried onto the scene.

"You requested my assistance," the dog reminded. Raiden gazed down at him.

"...It doesn't matter now," he replied simply. "I've still got it." The cyborg's sentence ended with a slight grin, but soon enough Raiden's eye locked onto Blade. She was still standing some distance away, only just sheathing her swords. Her green eyes slowly returned Raiden's stare. Raiden just grunted and shook his head. "Come on," he called out to both his companions. "We don't want the Swords of the Firebird to see us, though they're probably smart enough to figure out something's happened here."

With that, Raiden began to walk. His pace allowed the other two to catch up to him, and after that he ran. Bladewolf and Blade swiftly followed him, managing to exit San Antonio before any of the other cyborgs caught sight of them. They were lucky, for sure.

But now Raiden had another goal in mind: he had to keep those cyborgs away from his family.

 **~End of Chapter~**


	7. Chapter 7: Success

**~Chapter 7: Success~**

Bladewolf pounced ahead as Raiden and Blade ran in his direction. Raiden kept his eye peeled for any danger; now the trio were actively making their escape, so inevitably they would run into danger since they weren't attempting to keep hidden.

"The outskirts of the city are still heavily guarded," Wolf told Raiden when he had run far enough ahead.

"Right," Raiden responded. "What's there?"

"Cyborg soldiers and two Grad units," Wolf answered. Raiden looked worried.

"Understood," he replied. "I'll deal with them." With that, he ended the call.

"Did he say Grads?" Blade asked while running just behind Raiden, unable to keep up with his pace.

"This fight will be too dangerous for you, kid," Raiden told her. "I want you to stay put this time when I tell you to; I almost sliced you in half earlier when you joined the battle."

"I didn't come along to watch you do all the work," Blade spat. Her comment made Raiden scowl a little.

"What, so you wanna try taking down two Grads with those swords of yours?" he retorted sarcastically.

"No," Blade corrected. "The Grads are yours; while these swords can damage them, one hit from a Grad could be fatal for me. I'll deal with the soldiers."

"You don't know how many there are," Raiden reminded her.

"I'll manage!" Blade snapped, continuing to run until she and Raiden arrived at the city outskirts and skidded to a halt. They were noticed immediately, with about eight cyborg guards running towards them as two Grads followed. Raiden turned to look at Blade as he drew out his sword.

"You head to the right and get the attention of those soldiers," he instructed. "I'll keep those Grad units busy."

Understanding that Raiden had reluctantly accepted her offer to split the fight, Blade nodded her head and ran over to the right. These guards had guns, so she figured that she'd stick close to them so that she could at least stop them from shooting at her; if she was further away, they could all shoot and she could do nothing to stop them.

Raiden, meanwhile, sprinted towards the two Grads to get their attention. Immediately one of them attempted to crush Raiden between two of its flat panels, but Raiden knew this manoeuvre too well so was able to parry it with his blade. The second Grad went for the same attack, and once again Raiden parried it. He chose to run up the side of one of the Grads, digging his blade into the top repeatedly. He was about to make an attempt to cut the machine in half, but the other Grad shot a missile towards him and knocked him flying back down to the ground. The cyborg growled, realising that he had to come up with a strategy which would grant him a quick victory against these large machines.

Blade stood in a ready stance with both of her swords ready for use, her green eyes watching every guard with caution. One grinned and chuckled, although his grin was difficult to see behind his black mask.

"So child soldiers are becoming popular again, I see," he mocked. "Normally they man guns, not swords. Come on, boys; permission to use deadly force on this one!"

The guard pulled out his gun, as did the others, and they each prepared to open fire as they surrounded her. Blade narrowed her eyes, running towards the guard which had just mocked her. He was about to use the butt of his gun to whack her in the head, but Blade ducked and ran her swords through the cyborg's stomach. She swiftly turned around, using this man as a shield as the others opened fire on her. Pulling both swords out to the opposite sides, Blade was able to split the cyborg in half as she darted towards three who were clustered together. She only used one of her swords as she ran past the trio, slicing them in half merely by running by and holding out her sword horizontally. Four down already.

One guard succeeded in shooting her in the leg, causing her to stumble over and collapse. She clasped the wound painfully and glared in the direction of the man who shot her. Knowing that she would have no time to get up and run towards him, Blade chose to fling her sword in his direction. She hit him in the chest, but unfortunately this attack was not fatal. The cyborg guard pulled out the sword and dropped it onto the ground, preparing to fire at the thirteen-year-old.

A howl was heard, catching the attention of the remaining four guards. Before anyon could react, Bladewolf leaped onto the man who was about to execute Blade, viciously pinning him to the ground and tearing into him. Blade used this time to stand up, trying her best to ignore the burning sensation coming from her leg.

The brunette ran towards the remaining soldiers, sweeping her hand along the ground to pick up her sword on the way. She jumped up and tackled one soldier, straddling his hips as she pined him to the floor and proceeded to stab him in the chest and head until confirming that he had been destroyed. One guard ran towards her in an attempt to kick her off him, but she immediately used one of her swords to slice both of his legs, returning to her full height as she brought the second sword into his head. Now the final guard remained. Blade, despite the agony in her leg, ran at him and swiftly moved to the side as he opened fire, moving behind him and impaling his back and head from behind. She slipped the two blades out of his corpse and kicked him to the ground, turning her head to look in Raiden's direction.

Raiden stood on top of the Grad he had done the most damage to, slicing away at the top part of it before it collapsed. As it collapsed he hopped onto the second Grad, running his sword all the way down it. This wasn't enough, so he sliced and slashed at the mechanical weapon's legs until it could no longer stand, then kicking it in the "head" and delivering the final blow with his katana, tearing out its energy core to replenish his own power.

With both Grads now defeated, Raiden turned his head to see Blade limping towards him with Bladewolf at her side. He looked greatly concerned.

"What happened?" he asked her. "Were you shot?"

"In the leg, yeah," Blade answered. "It's no big deal."

"You're limping," Raiden pointed out.

"Don't remind me," Blade snarled. "If anyone from my village saw me like this, they would call me a disgrace to my family name."

Raiden sighed and shook his head, not in the mood to argue with Blade's brainwashed logic. Bullet wounds to the leg could be lethal, but it looked like Blade was lucky. He knew that offering to help her walk back to the helicopter would be an insult to her, so decided to just walk. "Let's keep going," he said. "But when we get back, we're gonna need to pull that bullet from your leg."

The trio wandered back to the helicopter without disturbance, and once again they endured an awkwardly silent journey back to Solis.

Sunny greeted Raiden and Bladewolf when they returned, but Blade just limped past her without saying a word. This action did not offend Sunny since she had become used to it in the three months Blade had been staying there.

"So what happened?" Sunny asked as she sat on the ground with Wolf. "Did you find anything out?"

"Blade and I entered Phoenix's helicopter," Raiden explained. "We found out... various things."

Sunny could see the lack of comfort in his expression, growing concerned. "Sounds bad," she acknowledged.

"Yeah," Raiden nodded. "But we don't know too much about them yet. Think you could try finding the next location of their elite cyborg unit?"

"I could try," Sunny replied. "It's gonna be hard, though."

"Of course it is; they're elite cyborgs who will do anything to keep secrets," Raiden pointed out. "I'll talk to you later; I've gotta keep my eye on Blade." Raiden walked in the direction Blade had wandered in as Sunny stood up and went in a different direction, with Bladewolf following her.

Blade was sitting in one of the few guest wards, sitting on her bed. She had tied the top of her thigh just above the bullet wound and had painkillers and disinfectant on her bedside table. She winced and growled, biting down on her headband which she had removed from her head and stuffed into her mouth in order to surpress any screams of pain as she probed for the bullet in her leg. The round was small, so it slid out with ease but was still agonizing for her.

Raiden entered the room just as Blade was cleaning her wound and preparing to wrap a tight bandage around it. He stared for a moment, desperate to help but knowing that the offer would offend Blade. The young girl saw him and frowned.

"What do you want?" she growled at him.

"I'm just making sure you're alright," Raiden answered, folding his arms as he leaned against the door frame.

"Yeah, well, I'm fine," Blade huffed, proceeding to wrap the cloth around her leg.

"Y'know, when others are concerned for you, it's not too hard to appreciate it," Raiden told her.

"People shouldn't show concern for others, only themselves," Blade shot back. "Anyone from my village would agree."

"So you don't care about them?" Raiden asked, seeing the girl slow down as she bandaged herself. He had struck a nerve, but there was no other way to get through to the girl; she couldn't continue behaving like this. "Are you telling me that you don't care about everyone who was killed? Your friends? Your family?"

"Shut up," Blade hissed, her hands shaking as she finished bandaging her wound. Raiden frowned, knowing that Blade could see his point.

"You keep pushing everyone away. You refuse to listen to anyone and you blame people for worrying about you. You hate it when people care about you, but I know that you care about everyone you lost. That's why you want to avenge them."

"Shut up, Raiden," Blade wavered, her body quivering.

"I'm not trying to hurt you, Blade," Raiden assured. "Nobody here is. Not Sunny, not Wolf, not George... So why can't you see that? Why do you have to keep those walls of yours up, kid? Why won't you just accept that caring isn't a bad thing?"

"SHUT UP!" Blade screamed, suddenly picking up one of her swords and marching right at the cyborg as if ready to attack him. Raiden immediately caught her wrist with one hand, feeling the girl struggling against him. She began to shake more and more, tears in her eyes as she clenched her teeth, her body tensing up until suddenly she collapsed. She broke down sobbing as Raiden let go of her wrist, watching her fall to her knees while dropping her sword. She wept like a terrified but lonely child, her cries close to sounding like distressed wails.

Raiden gazed down at her thoughtfully before kneeling in front of her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Hey," he said as softly as he could. Blade didn't react, instead continuing to sob and sniffle with her eyes closed shamefully.

The expression on Raiden's face became one of sympathy. He hated seeing kids turn out like this. He hated seeing kids hurt because of war. Blade was lucky to cry like this; no doubt crying was physically punishable in her village. This may be the first time she had cried properly in years.

While Raiden couldn't exactly compare Blade to his younger self, since as a child he enjoyed killing if he could feel anything at all, he could certainly understand the troubles going through Blade's head. She had no idea what was right and what was wrong, and she was surrounded by people who could care without fearing people judging them.

Blade also reminded Raiden of his young son, John. Remembering Little John caused Raiden to remember his fear: Rose and John were both being searched for by the Swords of the Firebird and would be killed if discovered, even though they were still safe in New Zealand...

Remembering the fact that his own son's life was in danger, Raiden pulled Blade into a hug, projecting the image of John onto her without even realising it. He could tell that Blade was stiff, freezing herself in shock and confusion.

"It doesn't hurt to feel fear," the cyborg told her, recalling Sunny's past words to him. "It's alright if you're afraid. It's alright if you're upset. It shows that... you're not a monster."

He could tell that Blade's crying was beginning to cease, but suddenly she clung onto him with her face buried into his metallic shoulder in order to shield it; nobody was supposed to see her like this. She wasn't allowed to cry.

Raiden let out a soft sigh and lifted the girl up, lying her down on her bed. "You need rest," he told her. "And you deserve it." Blade's reddened eyes glanced at him before she rolled onto her side and curled up, still ashamed to show her face. Raiden stood there in deep thought for a few seconds before choosing to leave the room, deciding to go and speak with Sunny.

Sunny was sat by her computer with Wolf laying under her feet. She had various files up on screen, but swung her seat around upon hearing Raiden's footsteps as he entered the room.

"Find anything?" he asked her.

"Yeah," Sunny answered proudly. "Using one of the satellites, I was able to track where they went from San Antonio. They went somewhere in North Dakota, but I lost track of their signal not long after they entered the state."

"Damn, they got there fast," Raiden murmured.

"Advanced technology," Sunny pointed out. "These guys seem like they produce a lot of advanced stuff."

"Like those cyborgs," Raiden noted.

"Yup," Sunny agreed.

"They were looking for materials when they were in San Antonio," Raiden recalled.

"They're probably trying to build the ultimate cyborg," Sunny guessed. "They wanna beat you, right? They must be trying real hard."

"Yeah..." Raiden muttered thoughtfully, glancing to the side for a brief moment. "I've gotta stop these guys before they massacre any more settlements; and I've gotta get to them before they find out too much about my family."

"Don't worry, buddy, I've got you covered," Sunny assured with a smile. "I've already put up a bunch of firewalls which are impossible to get by; only I can get through them to access any files regarding you or your family."

Raiden's expression brightened up slightly. "You've done that already?" he asked her. Sunny giggled and nodded her head. Raiden stared at her, wide-eyed, before smiling behind his metal jaw. "Thanks, Sunny."

Sunny put up her thumb happily. "Anything for a friend!" she replied.

A red light suddenly flashed on Sunny's computer, popping up a warning. "Warning," came the female computer voice. "Unauthorized personnel hangar access." The voice repeated this as Sunny began opening up the camera system. Raiden and Wolf stood to attention, with Raiden looking ready to sprint out of the room and deal with the possible intruder.

On screen, one of the jets could be seen preparing to leave the hangar. Inside the cockpit was Blade.

"Blade!" Raiden exclaimed upon seeing her. "Shit!" He immediately ran out of the room as fast as he could, heading straight for the hangar as Bladewolf bounded after him.

But he would not reach the hangar in time, for Blade had just taken off as Raiden arrived. He could only watch as the jet went up and up into the sky, speeding off into the distance.

"North Dakota, huh?" Blade whispered to herself as she flicked various buttons and switches within the vehicle. "I don't need their help; I can stop them on my own."

 **~End of Chapter~**


End file.
